DAN FOLEY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 May 1938, Page 10

DAN FOLEY

GOLDEN-VOICED TENOR TO MAKE PERSONAL APPEARANCES. One of the most popular singers New Zealand has even taken to its heart, is Dan Foley, the Irish tenor. Patrons of music will doubtless be delighted to learn that he is to make personal appearances on the stage of the Regent Theatre, commencing on Saturday for 3 days. Dan Foley has been well described as “New Zealand’s John McCormack.” His repertoire includes the famous “Rebel Song,” “Smiling Irish Eyes,” “Did Your Mother Come From Ireland?” “Father O’Flynn,” etc. “YOU’RE A SWEETHEART.” Until you’ve seen “You’re a Sweetheart,” which opens on Saturday at the Regent Theatre, you’ll have to admit you’ve never before seen a real modern screen musical comedy. It’s definitely different. It’s ultra smart. It’s clever. It’s uproariously funny. It has plenty of plot. You don’t have to believe it. The plot makes fun of itself. It is packed with diversified specialties; tuneful, rememberable songs; trig, trim and intriguing dances. And yet this abundance of variety is packed so neatly, so perfectly into its length that you will wonder how it was possible to show it all in one evening. The reason, no doubt, is the cast. The star, Alice Faye, delivers what is no doubt the finest picture of her career in “You’re a Sweetheart.” Her acting and her dancing stand out even in the brilliant performances of the exceptional cast which surrounds her. Miss Faye never was more beautiful and she never was so well photographed. Second is George Murphy. George is smoothness personified, in his acting, dancing and singing. It’s his best picture to date. And Ken Murray, Oswald, Andy Devine. Bill Gargan, Frank Jenks, Dave Oliver, Charles Winninger and Frances Hunt, among others, it smoothly and perfectly into the streamlined whole, making possible the fast and effortless tempo of the production. “You’re a Sweetheart" establishes a. smart atmosphere and a pulse-quickening pace from the very opening and keeps it mounting steadily in tempo to the very finish, a trick hitherto never successfully completed in screen musical offerings. NEW SCREEN PERSONALITIES SIGNED UP. Forging ahead in the development of new personalities, Warner Bros, has placed more than 30 actors and actresses under contract during the past four months. As the Burbank studio advances its plans for the season of 1938-39, the Company will intensify its quest for new talent, states Hal. B. Wallis, despite what is termed recession in some quarters. Many of these “new faces” will make their debut in pictures to be placed in release during 1933-39, said Wallis. Newcomers to the Warner contract Roster during the past six months include: Peggy Moran, Susan Hayward, Anthony Averill, Bonita Granville, Bobby Jordan, Bruce Lester, Jeffrey Lynn, Jack Moore, Jimmy Nolan, Gale Page, John Ridgeley, Janet Shaw, Eric Stanley, Larry Williams, Gabriel Dell, Jan Holm, Penny Singleton, and James Stephenson.

Benny Goodman put an ice compress on his lips for fifteen minutes every night before retiring after a day’s

work in Warner Bros.’ filmusical “Hollywood Hotel,” in order to reduce swelling caused by playing the clarinet. A cricket on the “Hollywood Hotel” set chirped so stridently in the sound recording that shooting was halted a half hour while cast and crew searched frantically before the culprit finally was located. He was on the microphone boom. The “extra” girl says: “Life isn’t so hard to figure out, if you have a figure to work with.”

A “WALK-IN!” Here’s a man who literally walked into film fame! He’s John Wayne, gangling six-footer, who appears with Marsha Hunt in Paramount’s “Born to the West,” 'an outdoor romance by Zane Grey which opens on Friday at the Cosy Theatre. Wayne had a job as property boy in a film studio where Raoul Walsh was directing a picture. One Jay Walsh saw him walk across the lot. That walk, Walsh decided, was a real western “gait” and it was perfect. He sent for the young man and gave him the leading role in “The Big Trail,” one of the outstanding pictures of its time, and Wayne has been in pictures ever since.